The Seven Hour War
by Spartan-IV
Summary: He's fought in seven different campaigns, trained for years, but he never anticipated to be fighting anything like this.


**This story takes place in Anchorage, Alaska. A place I lived in for five years. Fort Richardson is a real base, there are Blackhawks, and there are F-18s there. The only thing I'm not sure about is whether or not they have M1A2 Abram tanks. Ahh well, if they don't, then I took a little creative license.**

**This is wirtten in first-person narrative, something I'm not really used to. Frankly I've only read three books that were written well enough to pull it off. Hopefully this one is just as good.**

* * *

_My name is Justin Dawson. I used to be a soldier, now I'm a refugee. I was part of the 'Seven Hour War', if you can call it that. It was more like a slaughter. Fellow soldiers that I'd served with for years were annihilated at the hands of an alien invasion force, even my dreams make me relive the event._

I was clustered up in barracks at Fort Richardson with my squad when the base was called up to Alert Level Charlie, standby mode. Every soldier in the base ran to the armoury, combat boots became a blur of motion as our feet boomed against the tile floor. Small doors parted, revealing one of the base's many armouries. We quickly formed an assembly line, with people passing rifles, pistols, grenades, and knives down the line to whoever wanted them. I remember grabbing a standard M-16, a Colt .45, and a double edged combat knife. Nothing fancy, I wanted to keep an eye on the rest of my squad.

Kevlar vests and helmets were quickly strapped on, there wasn't time to change our uniforms for the urban camouflage I had no doubt we would be using. Of course, at the time, no-one was really concerned about that. I knew that a lot of people, me included, were convinced that this was another drill.

_If only we'd thought otherwise._

We formed up into individual squads just outside of Junction Thirty-Six, our khaki uniforms seamlessly matching the colour of the lush green grass that dominated the landscape. Colonel O'Connor marched into the centre of our lines, his voice booming as he spoke. "First off let me be the first to tell you that this is no training exercise," he paused for a minute as some of the others grew visibly excited.

"We have an unknown situation in Anchorage. We're reading a strange aperture forming above the city; this phenomenon seems to be forming over most of the world. We're not quite sure what it is, so be prepared for anything. Your first priority is to form a defence perimeter around the anomaly, you'll be inserting by Blackhawks. The majority of the Air Force is on standby until we know just exactly what we're dealing with. Remember your training if things get rough, I guarantee it will save your life."

With that said O'Connor turned to me and shouted, "Captain!"

"Sir!" I responded, my at-ease posture snapping right back into perfect military form.

"Take your squad to Super Six One, on the double!"

"Yes sir!" I shouted as I snapped off a crisp salute, which was promptly returned by O'Connor. I turned to the seven others in my squad, "You heard the Colonel, move it up!"

The others sprinted toward the waiting UH-60 with such enthusiasm that I couldn't help but crack a smile as I ran after them. The Blackhawk was a little pressed for space with eight passengers, but no-one complained. I was the last to pile in as I sat down with my feet dangling over the edges. The UH-60's pilot spoke through his comlink as the rotor blades started spinning, "This is your captain speaking, we're about five miles away from our destination so there won't be a long wait. There may be some mild turbulence during the landing, but it's nothing to panic about. Please fasten your seatbelts and enjoy the ride."

I felt the chopper ascend into the clear blue sky above, the base quickly becoming smaller as the helicopter sped away at maximum velocity. The view from my position was great, of course I knew that there was one person who wouldn't be enjoying it.

"Hey Charlie, do you actually have seatbelts for this thing?" Mendoza, the squad's sniper, asked the pilot nervously after a quick look out of the open bay door.

"Why? Are you afraid you're going to fall out?" Neil, the demolitions expert, teased; referring to Mendoza's well-known fear of heights.

"Well if I do, I'll be sure to bring you along to break my fall." Mendoza shot back, a small grin etched across his face.

"Why become a sniper if you're afraid of heights anyway? I mean, that's like a Quaker becoming a soldier." Adam, my second in command, queried as he attached a bayonet to the end of his rifle.

"I don't know why. Probably the same reason we designated a psycho as the demolitions expert." Mendoza replied with a smug look casted in Neil's direction.

Neil merely narrowed his eyes as he said, "I refuse to dignify that with a response."

The others laughed at Neil's statement, while I looked at the other four in my squad. Will, the squad's scout, sat with his back against the wall, a combat knife twirling between his nimble fingers.

Nicole was seated next to Neil, her eyes looming over the bayonet attached to Adam's rifle. "Do you really think you'll be needing that?"

"Never hurts to be prepared. Gunners should be able to appreciate that."

"I guess, though I prefer medium range combat myself."

The last two, Jacob and Craig, were operating the helicopter's mini-guns. If I didn't know that they were born from separate families, I could have sworn they were twins. The two always seemed to know what the other was doing, making them an extremely effective combat team. A real asset to have in a fire-fight.

As the Blackhawk closed in on Anchorage, I could see a large blue funnel opening up above the centre of the city. With the exception of one towering hotel, the buildings downtown were around 2-3 stories tall. Anchorage did seem a lot bigger in the air than I would have thought, collections of freeways and markets dotted the city.

As soon as Charlie let the Blackhawk hover above a rooftop, my squad automatically divided themselves into two. Adam and I were he first out for our respective sides while the others followed suite.

My radio crackled as Charlie said, "I'll be on station, just say the word for extraction."

"Roger that, thanks Charlie." I replied, my previous pre-mission jitters had been replaced by a cool calm. I had a job to do; I couldn't afford to be distracted, lest my squad suffer the consequences.

_If only I knew what a waging snipe storm I was about to lead my squad into, I would have scrubbed the whole mission._

Being on a three story building gave us a good view of the strange phenomenon, it looked as though an electrical storm was brewing up in the sky. The aperture seemed to crackle with power. I shook my head to clear my thoughts, it may have been nice to look at but I was determined to treat it as a threat until proven otherwise.

I told Will and Mendoza to cover us from up there while the rest of us used a fire escape to get to ground level. As soon as my feet touched concrete pavement, Adam and I split the remaining squad in half. I took point, with Neil and Jacob, as we jogged down the main road. The other squads in our division weren't far behind; I remember looking up into the sky seeing a full squadron of Blackhawks dropping off troops on rooftops before falling back to a safe distance.

Not long after that, I could hear status reports from other squads when their sharp shooters moved into position, while the others moved in on foot. By the time five more radio communiqués blared through on my radio, I knew that armour support was inbound. It would only be a matter of time before they arrived.

By then, my squad was only about four hundred metres away from the phenomenon. The aperture seemed to have grown to the point where a Blackhawk could easily fly through. When that thought crossed my mind, a strange cluster of aircraft exited the funnel and flew around in the sky. They looked like flying whales, their stabilizers resembled whale fins, while their exterior body was a light green colour. A large turret mounted onto their heads completed the strange anatomy.

At that point I was so engrossed in the spectacle that I barley heard Neil whisper, "What in God's name is that?"

In a brief instant, the whale-like aircraft moved toward our Blackhawks at lightning fast speeds. Rounds fired from their turrets impacted against the lead Blackhawk's armour plating.

Mini-guns tracked the enemy aircraft and returned fire a few seconds after, sending thousands of spent casings falling to the ground when the large rounds impacted into the strange creatures. Bright yellow scorches sparked against the aliens, their amour absorbed the majority of the onslaught. The alien aircraft responded, they concentrated their fire on one Blackhawk; hundreds of rounds were enough to puncture the thick armour plating of the helicopter.

All I could do was stare helplessly as the Blackhawk's main rotor started to fail, leaving the vehicle to spin toward the surface below. Despite the pilot's best efforts, the helicopter continued plummeting to the ground. It wasn't until a thunderous crack echoed throughout the city and a light gray shade of smoke filled the sky that I decided to act. "Jacob, let squad seven know I want them to secure that crash site and tell the others to fire on those strange aircraft."

"On it sir," Jacob said as he changed his radio to the appropriate frequency in order to relay my orders.

"Neil, knock those things out of the sky!" I barked as I fired a burst at the closest creature.

"With pleasure," he responded with fierce anger as he loaded his light-weight anti-tank weapon, or LAW. The launcher was a little under a metre in length with a barrel wide enough to fire off the 66mm high explosive anti-tank rocket ammunition. The 2.3 kg rockets had a maximum range of 1 kilometre, and were strong enough to puncture a hole inside even the most heavily armoured tank.

Neil grunted when the rocket escaped from its confines with a whoosh, a smoke trail followed in its wake as the rocket sped toward one of the hostile creatures. A loud boom was followed by the sound of a scream, as the creature fell from the sky.

The creature's carcase fell to the ground with enough force to form a crater in a layer of concrete as it pounded onto the ground with a thud. The noise was soon followed by the scene of rockets filling the sky as the other squads complied with my orders. The small explosives were each directed at separate targets, creating a large blast radius as the rockets impacted against their targets almost simultaneously.

The lone survivor of the aliens wailed in distress when it saw its companions fall. It was clear to me that the cry had been emitted for a reason other than just anger, a few moments later more creatures appeared. An entire battalion of alien forces materialized from the strange aperture, in addition to more of the air-craft there were a few divisions of quadrapedal crab-like aliens. They had horn shaped feet that were attached to long spindly legs, with a barrel shaped body that was outfitted with dual cannon armaments.

The newcomers moved through the streets until they were only two hundred metres away from us. Rapid clicking noises emitted from the aliens as a light blue bubble started forming at the tip of their cannons. Intuition gave me the insight that the charging process wasn't going to take long. I shouted for Jacob and Neil to take cover in a nearby alleyway.

Together the three of us dove for safety; my feet had just entered the alley when discharging blue beams lanced through the street. The energy streams tore through the structure of the building my squad had previously been standing in front of, leaving half of the building to fall over onto the street.

"Neil, get ready to fire!" I shouted to him as I sprinted back into the street, ignoring protests from my squadmates. The aliens snapped their focus back toward me as soon as I emerged from my cover, I ran out in side-step fashion with burst fire erupting from my M-16 rifle.

The creatures fired off another volley of beams at lightning fast speeds. I avoided all of them by diving to the right.

_Or so I thought._

A menacing growl was followed by another discharging beam that tore through the concrete as it lanced toward my prone form. I was spared a gruesome death when the beam imploded in on itself, though the resulting force of the explosion sent me sprawling backwards ten metres.

I landed on the concrete with a smack, protected from back injury by the hardened plates in my Kevlar vest. Just as I thought the creatures were about to finish me off, a rocket darted toward the lead creature. The explosive ammunition penetrated the creature's thick armour in a brilliant blue flash that engulfed two of its other companions.

The COM in my helmet buzzed before a familiar voice boomed in my ear drums, "Fire support is inbound," Charlie spoke just before I heard the distinctive chopping noise associated with helicopter rotor blades.

It was a tight fit for the Blackhawk to manoeuvre sideways inside the tightly packed roadway, but Charlie pulled it off without even scratching the paint on his bird. Dust kicked up into the air as soon as the Blackhawk lowered its altitude to 100 metres. One of Charlie's crewers opened fire with the mini-gun, sending hundreds of rounds arcing through the street and into the crab-like aliens.

The creature's screamed as the bullets penetrated their armour, the rounds punctured their barrel shaped bodies to the point where green blood started oozing out of the wounds. The high rate of fire from the mini-gun meant that the creatures never had a chance to return the favour; the supporting fire put a short end to the squad of creatures as they died with loud wails that seemed to echo throughout the entire city.

Using the momentary break to my advantage I clicked on my COM, "Charlie evac the survivors from the crash site, then tell Colonel O'Connor to scramble those F-18s."

"Roger that. Watch your back next time Captain, I can't always come by to rescue you."

"I'll keep that in mind," I replied with a mock salute in Charlie's direction. I could hear him laugh as his Blackhawk started ascending back into the sky. I quickly signalled for Jacob and Neil to form up as I searched for a better defensible location.

A mere two minutes had passed by before the strange funnel opened again, this time a group of enormous creatures materialized through. They were easily 20 metres tall, featuring a head that was similar to a turtle shell. Two armaments were attached to their head, their capabilities were unknown but I had no doubt that I'd be seeing them in action soon enough. Sixteen metre spindly legs completed the creature's strange physiology; the ground seemed to shake with every step that the aliens took.

I was about to order the others to take cover when Jacob clicked on the COM, "Sir! Armour is inbound."

"Patch me through to their platoon commander." I ordered as we ducked into another narrow alleyway.

"You're on now." Jacob stated after a couple minutes of tinkering.

"Commander, this is Captain Dawson. Order all of your units to attack those huge creatures."

A moment of silence passed on the COM after I spoke, "Commander?"

"Right, I'm on it sir." The commander said as he audibly composed his shaky voice.

The sound of his voice was quickly followed by a booming echo; the M1A2 Abrams had opened fire. A thunderous crack resulted in a bright explosion on the carapace of these strange behemoths. The creatures screamed in pain as their attention snapped to the armoured vehicles, another wail emitted from the aliens as they moved toward the tanks.

Another barrage fired from the tanks as the creatures tried to get within weapon's range. The high explosive shells tore through the hardened armour plating of the colossal life-forms, leaving one to moan in distress as the tank shells severed its head in half. One of its companions growled in a strange dialect before charging up a weapon mounted at the base of its head. A beam lanced across the street, only to explode upon impact of a tank. That single blast sheared through three layers of heavy armour plating in a matter of microseconds, splitting the tank in half and killing all of the vehicle's occupants.

The rest of the commander's tank brigade retaliated by bringing all fifteen of their guns bearing on one of the advancing life-forms. High explosive ammunition reverberated in loud cracks as the recoil sent tanks backtracking a metre. The concentrating fire tore apart another of the enormous life-forms, but the others retaliated by advancing faster than I would have thought possible. They wailed in their strange tongue as turrets opened fire from both the aliens and the tanks.

From my perspective, this battle was becoming a battle between mechanized forces. Abrams and Blackhawks continued firing at their targets. Projectiles and energy beams lanced across the city, decimating structures and enemy forces alike. My squad and I were just caught in the middle.

I slipped a fresh clip into my rifle and clacked the bolt into place, I'd be damned if we were just going to stand here and observe. I clicked on my COM and barked out orders, "Adam, reform on our location."

"On my way squad leader!" Adam's voice responded above the furious noises of gun-fire and alien screams.

"Neil, give me a mine-field on 31st street. Let's rearrange some architecture."

"I heard that," he responded as he dashed toward his objective.

"Mendoza. Will. Any weaknesses?"

"It looks like the floating whales have got a single weak point near their rotors, but those walking skyscrapers look to be invulnerable to anything short of a LAW." Mendoza spoke up after a short pause.

"Understood do what you can. Jacob, you're with me."

"Acknowledged," Jacob said he pulled out his pistol.

With the tanks and Blackhawks drawing fire from the alien forces, it was relatively safe to sprint down the road. I could see that the platoon commander was putting up a hell of a fight, the towering monstrosities fell with every volley from the Abrams. Jacob and I covered Neil while he set up a row of satchel charges behind us.

Our attention was diverted when Adam, Nicole, and Craig came sprinting into the road from an adjoining street; rifle fire was directed at something behind them. It didn't take me long to notice that one of the crab-like aliens had followed them here. Its four bulky legs gave it a powerful sprint, something it used to catch up to Adam and his squad. Craig fired back with his rifle, the weapon blared as its thirty round magazine fired on full auto.

The creature wailed in pain as the rounds penetrated its armour plating, but it didn't slow down in its charge. The alien jumped into the air, its sharpened legs coming down on Craig's spinal cord. His body fell limp in the creature's grasp, the appendages had caused enough pain to render him unconscious.

Jacob screamed in defiance as his best friend fell to the creature. He fired off his entire pistol clip, the eight rounds drew the alien's attention to him. Not even bothering to reload his pistol, Jacob threw the weapon to the ground and shouldered his rifle. The 5.56mm discharging bullets were enough to get the alien to charge Jacob, something he welcomed.

While Craig's incapacitation was tearing away my focus, I didn't let it get the better of me. I shouted at Nicole and Adam to give Jacob assistance while I radioed for Mendoza. "Mendoza, mark my position and get this damn alien off our backs!"

"Roger that, switching targets."

The steady crack, crack, crack of sabot rounds let me know that Mendoza was already complying with my orders. I fired on the extra-terrestrial with my M-16. The combined fire ended the creature's life in a matter of seconds, its loud wail not even providing the satisfaction of vengeance.

Adam ran over to Craig's prone form, med-kit in hand. Adam felt for a pulse on Craig, leaving him to sadly close his med-kit. I caught Adam's eye only to watch him slowly shake his head, Craig was dead.

I couldn't believe it, Craig always seemed to be the one who would never lose his life on a mission. One look at Jacob and the rest of the squad let me know that they were feeling the pain too. Losing Craig to one alien wasn't worth it, but if his sacrifice allowed us to save Anchorage, then it would be worth it. I knew that Craig wouldn't want us to settle for anything less.

Jacob started to pull Craig's body with us, in full compliance with the No Man Left Behind maxim. But as much as I wanted to evac Craig's body, it just wouldn't be practical. Calling for a Blackhawk would most likely get another shot down, and all of the tanks were needed fighting these gigantic monsters.

"Jacob, we have to leave him here."

He stopped in his tracks and slowly spun around, though from the look on his face I knew that he saw the logic in the reasoning. Jacob grimly nodded before placing Craig's corpse on the nearby sidewalk. I remember placing my hand on Jacob's shoulder and addressing the rest of the squad, "Craig was a great soldier and an even greater friend. We will honour him one last time, by taking out these aliens."

I ripped Craig's dog-tags from his neck and placed them in the front pocket of my combat-vest before turning to face the alien threat looming in the distance. The large creatures were still battling it out with the Abrams, their turret and cannon armaments firing as fast as they could. Another barrage from the Abrams left just one of the colossal creatures left. I looked over at Neil, "Are the explosives set?"

"Affirmative," he replied, the echo of sadness still inside his voice, as he passed me the detonator.

"'Excellent," I said just before sprinting toward the large creature. Adam shouted to ask what the hell I was doing but I didn't bother responding. After all, they'd find out soon enough. I sprinted until I was within fifty metres of the alien, a quick burst to the head was enough to provoke a response. It shifted its gaze to me before walking in my direction, its mounted turret firing on full auto.

I kept up a steady backpedal, my heels dug into the cement as I moved back as quickly as I could. The Abrams' Commander seemed to know that I had something planned because his tanks ceased fire almost instantly. I continued to backtrack, shouting above the deafening sounds of gun-fire for my squad to pull back. The alien picked up speed at this point, its spindly legs carrying it into a rhino like charge. Knowing that speed was more important thank further provocation, I turned on my heels and sprinted beyond the line of explosives.

After fifteen seconds of sprinting, I turned around and saw that the creature was just passing the satchel line. I pulled out the detonator and pushed the centre button. The remote explosives went off with a loud bang, clouds of smoke funnelled into the air as the explosive compound detonated. Fiery plumes engulfed the creature's legs while the buildings the explosives were attached to collapsed at the base. The entire three story structures buried the alien in a matter of seconds, a load wail escaped the creature as its entire frame disappeared under a pile of debris and smoke.

I reformed my squad and used the momentary lull in the battle to check on the status of the other teams, "Squads, report in."

Only static answered me.

I felt on the verge of panic as I retried transmitting, checked, and rechecked my COM system. "Christ, is anyone receiving me?!"

"I…..I hear you sir." A weak voice answered on channel six.

"Jenkins? That you?"

"Affirmative," he whispered.

"Where's Lieutenant Hale?"

"He's dead Captain, along with the rest of the squads. We were swarmed by those crab things, they overwhelmed us—," The rest of his speech was cut off by a loud explosion. A menacing growl was followed by, a very human, scream.

_I shouted for Jenkins to respond but static was my only reply._

By now the rest of my squad was clustered around me, horrified expressions etched on their faces. I put aside my panic and pinged Charlie on the emergency channel. "This is Captain Dawson to Super Six One."

"Go ahead Captain," Charlie's voice responded after a few tense seconds.

"Charlie I need you to link me to the Colonel."

"Roger that, standby," his voice came back a minute later, "You're on."

"This is Dawson to O'Connor," I said.

_At this point I was experiencing enough panic to make me forget to use the proper call-signs normally used for such a conversation. _

I waited a few seconds before repeating, "I say again, this is Dawson to O'Connor."

Only a lingering silence played part in the COM line. I quickly squelched the link and retransmitted to Charlie, "Charlie, what's the status of your transceiver?"

"Wait a moment," I could hear the clicking of buttons and the flicking of switches before he said, "I'm showing green across the board, why?"

"The colonel isn't responding," I replied matter-of-factly.

"That means that…." Charlie's voice trailed off, but it didn't matter. It meant that Fort Richardson had been hit by these…things.

"Are there any government officials still in the city?"

"You want to bring civilians in on this?" Charlie asked with a small note of disapproval evident in his tone.

"I only have one infantry squad, half a squadron of Blackhawks, and only a third of a tank brigade left. So yes, I do. Tell them we need everyone who can fight. I mean police, S.W.A.T, hell I don't care if it's the local red-neck population. We need everyone. This isn't a battle anymore; it's a fight for our very existence." I said with all the pain, fear, and anger that I'd experienced in these last two hours.

"Understood, I'll get it done."

The next two hours were spent regrouping the only available forces and concentrating on eradicating what was left of the crab creature infestation. During one particular cross-fire Adam discovered that a burst into a charging cannon would set off a chain reaction inside the crab alien, making it explode in bright blue flare of energy.

It didn't take long for the local civilian forces to respond to our request. Armoured S.W.A.T trucks dropped off armoured police forces, squad cars arrived with the regular cadets, and even a few armed civilians showed up.

In between alien incursions, we set up a small defensive perimeter. S.W.A.T trucks were used as cover during fire-fights, though most of us knew full well that protection was a relative thing with these creatures. Police officers shakily pointed their pistols out of the doors of their police cruisers, while S.W.A.T forces stood nearby to provide assistance.

All of our attention snapped toward the funnel when a loud snap could be heard. I was fully prepared to face another skirmishing force, since that's what they'd been throwing at us for the past two hours. But this time an entire cluster of battalions poured through, their numbers were easily in the thousands.

More of the crab-like aliens, towering skyscraper aliens, and air-craft creatures all came charging toward us. Blackhawks broke off to engage the air-craft, tanks opened fire on the enormous aliens, and we sat near the armoured vehicles waiting for the crab alien attack force.

"My god," Adam whispered as we nervously prepared ourselves for the coming battle.

Blackhawks started falling in a matter of minutes, there were simply too many alien forces. Tanks let loose volley after volley of high explosive rounds at the aliens but it looked as though more were stepping in to fill the gap left by the dead.

Frantically I clicked on my COM and barked, "All troops, open fire!"

Discharging bullets answered my command, the bullets sheared through the armoured bodies of the crabs easily. For once, the infantry had the advantage. But my brief sense of accomplishment was crushed when I noticed that Charlie's Blackhawk was the only friendly vehicle still airborne.

"Charlie, land the chopper!"

"I can't, I've lost thrusters. Altitude control is off-line."

I could see more of the alien air-craft circling like vultures above the falling helicopter, firing more rounds into the Blackhawk. The armour plating had failed in enough places that vital system were exposed, a few well placed rounds was all it took to take the tail rotor off-line.

If the helicopter wasn't spinning out of control before, it was now. A trail of smoke formed a spiral pattern as the helicopter plummeted to the ground like a cyclone. Over the still active COM channel I could hear Charlie struggling to slow the chopper's descent. Even though I wanted to turn away, I couldn't. I saw the wreckage of the once formidable vehicle crash into the side of a building with thunderous force.

_Charlie's dying screams still haunt me to this day._

Without air support, the alien aircraft were quick to turn their weapons on the remaining tanks. We tried to protect our last hope for victory but it was futile. A full squadron of alien aircraft fell to both tank and infantry weapons fire but the last two tanks were destroyed when a division of the enormous aliens fired off, _what I can best describe_, as warp cannon blasts.

The concentrated energy blasts seemed to eradicate the tanks, one second they were firing with everything they had, and the next they were smoking piles of rubble. Needless to say that after our entire mechanized support forces had been annihilated, I was quick to order a retreat. We ran with our guns pointed at the enemy, firing as we went.

_A lot of us didn't make it._

Cannon blasts killed the majority of the scattering armed forces in a matter of seconds. Groups of police officers and S.W.A.T teams were propelled into the air when the vehicles they were hiding behind exploded from a burst of cannon fire.

_I led my squad, and a few police forces, inside a two story building. We took cover inside, as I gave myself to despair. _

We knew that the day was going to end in defeat. The loss of the rest of our Blackhawks and Abrams meant that the battalions of enemy forces still remaining would have little trouble in ending our resistance. My feelings of despair were quickly replaced by anger at the deaths these aliens had caused, Craig and Charlie the most notable of the others.

_Charlie's death struck me the hardest. We had been best friends since high school, where we both made the decision to join the military. We'd served on seven campaigns since our enlistment, and in all of those we'd watched each other's backs. I'd saved Charlie's life a dozen times, and he'd returned the favour just as often._

I stood up in the building, and shouldered my rifle. I was fully prepared to fight to the end, if that meant that this was my last battle then so be it.

"Ec….thirty-six…inbound." A garbled signal crackled through on my COM speakers.

"This is Captain Dawson, repeat your last transmission."

"This is Echo Thirty-Six of Eagle Squadron inbound to your location Captain."

I felt a small smile tug on my face as I remembered that I'd sent word to scramble the F-18s before the base was destroyed. "How many are with you thirty-six?"

"Ten others, sir."

"You're priority targets are the tall aliens, we'll handle the smaller ones."

"Acknowledged Captain, E.T.A is thirty seconds."

I looked at the others in the squad to see if they heard. A quick look at their almost happy expressions let me know that they had. "We can still win here," I said as I addressed my small band of survivors, "Lock and load!"

We stormed out of the building in single file, weapons smoking and bullets flying. The aliens had clearly not been expecting an offensive action to be used against them, four of the crab aliens were brought down in a matter of seconds. Soldiers and police kneeled in the streets, one knee digging into the pavement as we continued firing.

Using Adam's technique, we fired at the charging cannons of the aliens, the bullets that hit their mark exploded the creature in a bright display of energy. The aliens that evaded the barrage fired energy blasts that were enough to blast our formation apart.

I was about to order the others to fall back when the F-18s fired off rockets at the colossal aliens, distracting the other aliens as they tried to identify the source of this new threat. Missiles and turrets fired at the aliens, resulting in loud wails as the creatures fell over with screams.

_At the point of climax in the battle I felt so sure that the aliens would be driven back, that we would save the city. But I couldn't be more wrong._

An entire division of aliens were wiped out by air strikes from the F-18s, but the remaining enemy forces unleashed cannon blasts with pinpoint accuracy. A few skilled pilots were able to evade the sudden barrage of cannon fire as streams of blue energy tore through the sky. The fighters that were hit disintegrated into the air, leaving only debris in its place.

The four pilots still alive brought their fighters to maximum velocity, smoke trails following in their wake as the craft swerved back around. I saw the aliens charging up again and I just wished that they'd miss.

_But my hopes were extinguished_.

The energy beams discharged again, so many of the blasts filled the sky that a course correction was futile. The remaining F-18s disintegrated in the sky.

The rest of us pulled back from our enemies, sprinting away with our back to them. We didn't get far before the aliens targeted us with turret fire, I sprinted with my M-16 cradled in my hands, a specific destination in mind. Around a block I ran to the building I had left Mendoza and Will at, just in case the worst came to light.

"Mendoza, get these aliens off our backs!"

"I'm on it," he replied with his usual cool demeanour.

The rest of us ran to cement barriers, we used them as cover while we fired at the charging aliens. Green blood seemed to coat the cement pavement as we continued up a near constant rate of fire. Sniper shots started ringing out after that. The 14.5mm sabot rounds tore through the power packs for the creature's cannons; letting them explode in a burst of blue energy.

The enormous aliens had caught up with us by then. I was surprised to see that it was moving right to the building where Mendoza and Will were protecting us. I quickly opened up a COM channel and barked, "There's an alien targeting your position, clear out!"

"Wait, I can make this shot."

"Damn it Mendoza, I said—," I was caught off when a cannon blast destroyed the building. I closed my eyes when I heard Mendoza's terrified screams echo into the still open COM channel.

_I was so enraged with grief and pain that I felt like taking out these aliens all by myself. Only strict military discipline kept me from doing such a thing. But there are times when I wish I had done just that, because what happened next would lead to an even worse fate than death._

A voice started speaking on every COM channel, "People of Earth, my name is Wallace Breen. These alien invaders, the Combine, are prepared to allow us to surrender and I urge you all to comply. We have put up a valiant struggle, but continuing to resist will only end with our complete extermination."

Even though I had no idea who this Breen character was, he demands did have a certain logic to them. I turned to the four others in my squad, "Lay down your weapons."

"Captain, you can't seriously believe that surrendering will do us any good." Adam said as he brought his eyes scanning the now docile aliens, wary of a sudden attack.

"No I don't. But what will dying in this battle accomplish?" I countered with a heavy-heart, saying such a thing went against what my very instincts screamed at me to do.

"Surrendering doesn't mean we end the fighting." I continued when I noticed that no-one else had any response to my last statement. "It means that we keep going, live to fight another day."

* * *

_Live to fight another day_. That was the theory at least. Unfortunately the Combine had other plans for such battle trained people. All military and police personnel, those still alive anyway, were sent to what looked to be some sort of prison. I didn't know what happened inside at first, but after two days I learned that we were being selected to endure operations designed to turn us into soldier drones for our conquerors.

The criminals who had previously inhabited this prison were freed, under the conditions that they service the Combine. Of course, these scum of society accepted the offer, becoming nothing more than traitors.

_Or so I thought._

Just when I was picked to leave my cell, no doubt to become one of these soldier drones, a criminal helped me escape. The criminal, who by now was wearing the garments for the new police force, the so called 'Civil Protection', helped me escape.

He got me onto a train and told me I would be sent to City Twenty-Two, which was what used to be Anchorage.

I half-expected to find the rest of my squad here, but I never did. I was living what most commanders would rather die than experience, the loss of all my squadmates and being the only survivor. That realization wounded me more deeply that any bullet could reach.

* * *

It's been two weeks since then, and in that time CPs have attempted to apprehend me several times. Apparently, my skills are in high demand. But I've killed every patrol they sent to capture me. I'll never work for these murderers, not as long as I still live.

"You, citizen! Hands up!" The cold metallic voice rang out through the small alleyway I'd been taking great pains to remain undetected in.

I put my hands up in surrender fashion, I wasn't all that surprised that they'd found me. I continued to remain still while the sounds of footsteps approaching from behind grew louder until I could hear the crunching of gravel right behind me.

"Move slowly, but keep your hands up." The CP said some twenty centimetres away from me.

I ignored the order and stayed right where I was, I had no doubt that they were once again trying to take me back to that prison.

"Go on," The CPs modified voice became even colder as his anger grew. "I said move!"

A flash of intuition let me know where the guard's stun-stick would be going. I quickly grabbed the handle of the weapon and rammed it into the guard's helmet, then just as quickly spun around and kicked him in the stomach with enough force to send him sprawling backwards. I was surprised to find that another CP had been with the first but I reacted quickly enough as the CP charged me. I faked a left-handed punch and performed a leg sweep. While the CP was on his back I ripped the stun-stick from his belt and jabbed the electrically powered device into his chest, eliciting a grunt of pain from the CP.

As the CPs radio crackled on I could hear a female voice reporting on the guard's last known location, ordering all other units to investigate. Normally, at this point, I would hide out in a nearby apartment while other CPs came to search the area but I've grown weary of these games.

I sprinted away from the crime scene, moving toward an apartment that I knew was being raided by metro-cops. I pumped my legs up the spiralling staircase, moving faster until I heard footsteps from somewhere above. I silently stepped into a nearby doorway, stilling my breathing and readying my stun-stick.

I held myself from attacking when the first metro-cop moved into my peripheral vision. I waited until the third CP passed, when I was sure that there weren't any more coming down I attacked. I lashed out with the stun-stick at the last metro-cop, striking the cop at the base of his skull. The last two turned around to look at me, their hands dipping to their holstered pistols. Acting on years of training, I threw the stun-stick like a javelin; the device impaled the CP at the chest leaving him to writhe around in pain. As for the last one, I threw myself down a flight of stairs after him.

My shoulder drove into the cop's chest as my body weight pinned him against the wall. Years of hand-to-hand combat training gave me a distinct advantage over this lowly criminal. I punched him in the stomach with enough force to make him kneel in pain, giving me the opportunity I was hoping for. I sent my leg hammering down on one of his bent knees, breaking the bone and causing the cop to scream in pain.

While the metro-cop's limp body fell down the staircase, I moved back up. I had no doubt that more metro-cops would be on the way so I had no choice but to go up.

I moved up another level before I noticed that there were still more metro-cops inside. They moved towards me when they saw me running up the staircase. I ducked to avoid a stun-stick blow to the head and retaliated by kicking the guard's leg and dragging him so his body fell down the stairway. I knocked the last cop unconscious with a few well placed kicks and jabs.

I relieved them of their pistols and moved on through the hallway on the third level. I searched for a fire-escape or someother means of escape, but I couldn't find any. This was my last fight, I was sure of that.

I flipped the safety off of the pistol and clacked the gun bolt into place with a snap. If this was my last fight that I was going to go out with a bang.

I snapped the pistol up to shoulder level and fired off a round into a cautiously advancing metro-cop. The rounds tore through his helmet easily, making him drop like a rock. I gunned down a few others before I realized that moving through the CPs would give me a chance at escape. I moved down the staircase, pistol firing at any Combine force I could see.

I had managed to move down to the second level when I aimed at another advancing cop and squeezed the trigger, only to hear the bolt clack. The gun was empty.

Acting quickly, I threw the empty pistol at the CP, leaving him stunned long enough for me to rip the stun-stick off of his belt. I jabbed him in the chest, and swiped him in the head before throwing his body down into three other metro-cops.

While the cops were still down I jumped over their bodies and sprinted my way down into the courtyard outside. I reloaded a newly captured pistol as I moved to the only exit out here. Just before I was about to run through a small alleyway a security field snapped on and blocked the exit. I doubled back when I heard the shuffling of feet, CPs were moving in on my location.

I moved back into the courtyard, pistol gripped in my hand. I felt my muscles twitch with the adrenaline pumping through my system. CPs moved in with semi-automatic machine guns. "Stand down citizen or we will open fire."

Even though the statement was a clear threat, it indicated that CPs weren't all composed of bloodthirsty criminals. Those types would have fired at me without so much as a single word.

But it didn't matter, I wasn't serving the Combine.

I fired back with my pistol, sidestepping as I ran. The metro-cops never even had a chance to fire, the 9mm rounds tore through their skulls. I waited for others to approach, knowing that there was only one exit, so there was only one entrance.

More CPs stormed through the barrier, weapons blaring as bullet rounds impacted into the cement by my feet with multiple cracks. I kept up a steady rate of pistol fire, killing my enemies only out of sheer accuracy.

I ejected a spent magazine and was in the process of searching for a spare clip when I heard a pistol discharge with a crack. The sound was quickly followed by the feeling of immense pain in my spinal cord. More rounds followed the first, until an entire clip was emptied into my back.

The pistol I was holding clattered to the ground. Blood flowed out of numerous wounds in my back, and my mouth, as I fell to my knees. While my vision started to fade and the blood was dropping to critically low levels in my body I found the strength to pick up the pistol I had dropped. I fumbled with a magazine but managed to slide it inside the pistol.

It took nearly all of my strength to clack the gun bolt into place. Some part of me knew that the CP who had fired was standing in the doorway of a nearby apartment building, and it was that part that I acted on. I fell onto my back, while I aimed upside down and fired.

I had the satisfaction of watching the metro-cop's body fall to the ground.

The last thing I heard was Combine radio traffic, "Unit 42 to control. Suspect taken down."

* * *

**Now I've been studying about nine hours a day for exams (no joke) so I'm amazed at myself for finding the time to write this thing. **

**Hope It was as much fun to read as it was to write, though I'm not really a big fan of first person narratives.**


End file.
